The big-spending conservative super-PAC American Crossroads is still researching the best way to attack likely 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the group’s president and CEO Steven Law said Friday.
{mosads}“I think there is an optimal time to engage any of the potential Democratic nominees, with Hillary obviously being at the top of that list,” Law said on Bloomberg TV’s “With All Due Respect.” “I expect we will start to focus on her. I think there needs to be a lot more research done, a lot more analysis, to understand the best way to talk about who she is and the kind of president she would be for the country.”
Law said the research phase should be complete in early 2015, and that the group’s attack strategy would play out publicly beginning shortly after that.
“We’re going to do a lot of studying, a lot of deep analysis and then start to enter that conversation in a pretty public way,” he said, adding that they’re going through the same process for other potential Democratic candidates, like Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D).
Law heads American Crossroads and its sister organization, Crossroads GPS, which together spent more than $170 million in the 2012 campaign cycle, and an estimated $47 million in the 2014 midterm elections, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
He said that while the primary focus remains on Clinton, he wouldn’t be surprised to see Democrats move in a different direction.
“I think [Clinton] is more likely than not the Democratic nominee,” he said. “But one of the things I’ve observed about the Democratic nominating process is that they’re always looking for the new flavor, and she certainly isn’t that.”
“As I look at the Democratic Party right now they seem to be involved in a very intense dialogue about what the post-Obama Democratic Party looks like, and it’s hard to imagine going back to pre-Obama is going to be a very satisfactory answer,” he added. “They may just decide that’s the default position but they could also decide to look elsewhere.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) could be at the top of that list for Democrats. She’s been a fundraising powerhouse and gained momentum recently among some on the left who are seeking a liberal alternative to Clinton.